Washington Wins Battle in New Jersey Against Hessians and British

Trenton New Jersey December 26, 1776

Have you ever taken almost a whole population of soldiers within an hour? Well George Washington has. He and his troops were terribley trained at first, but as they started to win battles, they gained confidence and started over powering most enemies. One night Washington led his troops on there way to Trenton to surprise the Hessians and take over and capture most of there soldiers and officers.

The populations that were involved in the Battle of Trenton were the Hessian, British. the Hessian population went from 1,400 to zero in hours.

Great news was reported that on December, 1776, Christmas night Washington lead his troops into battle against Great Britian. As he lead his troops around the Delaware River at 11:00 p.m. Early December 26, Washington had a suprise attack on the Hessians. They wanted to be done crossing at
12:00 a.m., but they ended up crossing at 3:00 a.m. due to the severe storm. Washingtons troops were behind schedule because they started marching at 4:00 a.m. The troops were misserable by 6:00 a.m. Hessian population began to die down at about 8:00 a.m. and there population went to 0 at 9:00 a.m. Fighting stopped by 9:30 a.m., and by noon they recrossed the Delaware river into Pennsylvania.

Trenton New Jersey is where they wanted to attack. They wanted to cross the Delaware River from Pennsylvania. Most of the militia were from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Washingtons force split at Bermingham. Half a mile from northern end of Trenton on Pennington Road was where they were spotted by a nearby house. Most Hessians had retreated by Assumpink Creek, which is where Ewig should have been. Cannons guarded King Street and Queen Street, where most Hessians were surronded and killed. Washington recrossed the Delaware River into Princeton.


Washington not only attacked Trenton for the dissapointiong loss at New York, but he knew that the Hessians weren't expecting it at all. He knew that they weren't trained for such a big attack. Trenton's population went to 0 beacuse they were overpowered by American troops. Most of the Hessians that escaped, escaped because Ewig couldnt cross the river due to the storm. So his area was barely guarded so that's where most Hessians escaped through. Hessians casualties, captures and wounds were far greater than Americans because of the suprise element used and their lack of training for the attack. If Rahl would have listened to the first warning then maybe they wouldn't have had such a fatal drop in population and troops.

Washington won because he prepared a lot for the battle. His plan was to attack with 3 different teams or sections. Planning early made it easier for him. Due to the storm, Ewig could not cross the Delaware. Many Hessians escaped by crossing over where he should have been. Someone had sson found out this was happening and that post was guarded by somone else. So many Hessians were captured and killed because Washington had a hudge element of suprise. He knew that the Hessians wouldn't be prepared for what they had coming to them. They'd be tired, drunk, or have hangovers from celbrating the night before. Rahl had gotten a message of Americans coming but he ignored it. Biggest mistake of his life. Usually, patrol was sent out to look for Americans but due to the massive storm, no patrol was on duty. This made it easy for Americans to sneak in unpretected and surrond Trenton and make them surrender. Washington's planning is how they ended up winning but if Rahl Would have listened to the warning, casualties would have been much lower.

Reported By: Martel Tinsley, Derek Adler, and Richard Hoofard